102 



American IBcc Jlonrnalj 



"keep more bees," and lays this chip 

 on his shoulder: 



" I can handle more bees, with 2 helpers, 

 when working for comb honey, than I can 

 for extracted." 



When a man who has been so suc- 

 cessful as M. A. Gill has been, talks in 

 that way, it raises the question whether, 

 after all, it takes so much less work for 

 extracted honey than for comb honey. 

 But, then, every bee-keeper is not a 

 Gill. 



A Hint for Wiring Frames 



With the usual method of horizontal 

 wiring there is likely to be trouble with 

 the wire cutting into the wood. A 

 correspondent of the Canadian Bee 

 Journal avoids this by the use of a 

 glass bead in each wire hole, the hole 

 being countersunk with a punch to ad- 

 mit and hold the bead. 



Brushing Wax On Fonn<lation 



From H. Voegler, of California, have 

 been received samples of foundation 

 reinforced by the patented plan of 

 brushing wax upon the upper part of 

 it. Some who have tried it speak 

 highly of the plan. Mr. Voegler says : 



"I use extra-thin Langstroth frame size. 

 It gives me over 14 sheets to the pound in- 

 stead of 0/2 to 10, or a gain of about 2-7. Bees 

 get on much faster in buildintr their combs." 



Keproduotion, Hatching, and 

 Swarming 



Editor White says in the Canadian 

 Bee Journal : 



The swarming instinct is the natural in- 

 stinct of reproduction and perpetuation of 

 the species. It is only when queens are 

 hatched and a swarm issues that real and 

 complete reproduction takes place in the 

 case of the honey-bee. Is not W. G. Flower 

 mistaken when he states that the natural in- 

 stinct to reproduce by sitting has been bred 

 out of the Leghorn and other breeds of 

 hens ? On the contrary, the modern Leg- 

 horn is capable of more rapid reproduction 

 than formerly. The duty of sitting on and 

 fostering the eggs does not constitute the 

 act of reproduction. 



That reminds one of the question of 

 long, long ago : "Is the hen that lays 

 the egg, or the hen that hatches it, the 

 mother of the chick ? Without in the 

 least insisting that a non-sitting hen is 

 any proof of a non-swarming bee, it 

 might not be entirely out of place to 

 ask Mr. White to tote fair. In the case 

 of hens, laying eggs constitutes repro- 

 duction, but in the case of bees it does 

 not. Whv not, Mr. White ? 



Black Roofing-Paper for Hive.s 



Objection has been made to dark 

 winter covering for hives, because it 

 excites the bees unduly when warmed 

 up by the hot sun. It seems that Allen 

 Latham, as he reports in Worcester 

 (Mass.) Telegram, does not agree in 

 this objection. For several years he 

 has been using hives that are covered 

 with black roofing-paper, which seems 

 to be part and parcel of the regular 

 walls of the hive, remaining perma- 

 nently summer and winter. He is well 

 satisfied with these hives, and says : 



The warmth of the sunshine raises the 

 black covering to a rather high temperature. 

 This warmth penetrates thehive and warms 

 the air of the same. This air takes up mois- 

 ture and expands as it warms, carries much 



moisture from the hive. (As night comes on 

 dry air enters the hive as cooling progresses.) 

 We have, therefore, a day and night ex- 

 change of air between the interior of the 

 hive and the outside. The result is that the 

 combs and the bees retain a healthful and 

 healthy condition. More than that, the 

 warmth stirs up the bees so that they move 

 their dead out and move their stores into 

 the empty cells within the cluster. They do 

 not fly much for they do not need flight. The 

 more sunshine that enters the hive the bet- 

 ter, for it kills mold and unwholesome con- 

 ditions. In spring bees come out vigorous 

 and ready to build up rapidly. The method 

 is so far ahead of auy other ever advanced, 

 that it is a matter of amazement to those 

 who use the method that others are soslow 

 to catch on, ^^^^^_____^___ 



Tarred Felt as Winter Protection 



Aaron Snyder says in the Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Review : 



" Two years ago we wrapped no colonies 

 in the fall with tarred paper after covering 

 them with 8 or 10 thicknesses of common 

 newspapers, and left them out on the sum- 

 mer stands all winter. Almost one-half died, 

 and the others were weak. I believe they 

 were covered too tight, were too warm — 

 'twas too much of a good thing." 



Editor Hutchinson favors the use of 

 tarred felt in the spring if used with 

 sawdust. He says : 



"The tarred felt cost about s cents per 

 colony. I have no use for tarred felt as a 

 winter protection. The reports of silccess 

 with this material have been very few— the 

 failures many. Failures have also been re- 

 ported when used alone as spring protection. 

 The reason given is that the black color ab- 

 sorbs the heat of the sun's rays, warming up 

 the hive sufficiently to cause the bees to fly 

 in unsuitable weather. In using paper u/.wi- 

 for spring protection. I would use a light 

 colored building paper. By using 2 or 3 

 inches of sawdust between the outer cover- 

 ing and the hive, the heat was mciditied. Per- 

 haps it was hours before the packing was 

 warmed through, and probably as many 

 more hours before it cooled off after the sun 

 was gone. The great object of the protec- 

 tion was to retain the internal heat. 



Shipping Bees South for Winter 



Migratory bee-keeping has been 

 practiced for many years, more in Eu- 

 rope than in this country. The bees 

 moved temporarily to a different local- 

 ity, in order to take advantage of the 

 better pasturage there. To go south 



merely for the sake of spending the 

 winter in a warmer climate is, however, 

 something quite different, and some- 

 thing new. But here it is, as may be 

 learned from the following clipping 

 from the Los Angeles Examiner: 



San Bernardino. Dec. is —Three carloads 

 of honey-bees arrived in this city yesterday 

 from Utah. They are the property of M. E. 

 Miller, Thos. Chantry, and George Hale, 

 Utah bee-men. and they will winter in the 

 vicinity of Colton and Highgrove. The bees 

 are unable to survive the cold Utah winters. 

 Next spring they will be taken north. 



One is somewhat inclined to inquire 

 whether there may be no mistake in 

 the case. Is Utah so much colder than 

 its next neighbor, Colorado ? And no 

 matter how cold, would it not be 

 cheaper to provide proper winter re- 

 positories than to bear the expense of 

 transportation both ways .'' Can any 

 of our Utah or California friends en- 

 lighten us ! 



Economy, or Waste, of Space ? 



In some of our contemporaries it is 

 the custom to give answers to ques- 

 tions upon bee-keeping without print- 

 ing the questions. The object, no 

 doubt, is economy of space, the thought 

 being that it is only necessary to give 

 the information without repeating the 

 question that called for the informa- 

 tion. Take, for example, the following 

 set of answers from that excellent pub- 

 lication, the British Bee Journal : 



Clover Bank (Devon).— r.7r/i)//j Queries.— 

 I. The wall will be no obstacle to the return- 

 ing bees. 2. The last week in April. 3. This 

 is the result of the bees giving more atten- 

 tion to the smaller number of larvae. 4. A 

 little of the honey should be left uncapped 

 as a stand-by should weather become ad- 

 verse. 5. We should say not. 



"Clover Bank" will no doubt get 

 some information of some value — per- 

 haps of great value — pro-.'ideci he has 

 kept a copy of his questions. But what 

 information will any one else get from 

 the answers ? It is simply a waste of 

 space. Either the questions should be 

 given or their substance embodied in 

 the answers. 



Miscellaneous ^ News Items 



Canada vs. California. — W. J. Brown, 

 after evidently having tried both places, 

 prefers Ontario to California as a bee- 

 country. In Ontario, he says in the 

 Canadian Bee Journal, a fair crop may 

 be had 9 years out of 10, whereas in 

 California you can not rely on more 

 than 2 good crops in every 10 years, 

 with a possible chance of getting a 

 small crop every 2 or 3 years. Prices 

 are better in the North, and the bee- 

 moth is less troublesome. 



A Joke on Editor Root. — At the Indi- 

 ana State convention Editor E. R. Root, 

 knowing that reporters were present, 

 took occasion to speak very strongly 

 on the subject of manufactured comb 

 honey. As expected, this was reported 

 in the papers, correctly in two, but the 

 Indianapolis Sun has a reporter who 



must be a veritable genius at misre- 

 porting, and this is what appeared ; 



" Mr. Root condemned the manufacture of 

 honey. He said he believed most of the 

 comb honey is manufactured and not pro- 

 duced by the bee." 



Just imagine the sedate and scrupu- 

 lous editor of Gleanings when he read 



that report! 



•»■ 



Bee-Keeping in Indiana Under this 



title, George S. Demuth, Chief of the 

 Division of Apiary Inspection, occupies 

 32 pages of the third annual report of 

 the State Entomologist of Indiana. If 

 this be generally distributed through- 

 out the State, it will do good. 



In the year 1910, 5733 colonies were 

 inspected, and of these -102 were affected 

 with American foul brood, and 358 with 

 European foul brood. Percentage of 



